Otunbayeva must halt persecution in Kyrgyzstan

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply disturbed by the
ongoing prosecution of two media owners and the imprisonment of a reporter on
charges of inciting and participating in violent ethnic conflict last year. The
persecution of Khalil Khudaiberdiyev, Dzhavlon Mirzakhodzhayev, and Azimjon
Askarov--all ethnic Uzbeks--tarnishes your stated commitments to
press freedom and rule
of law, and derails your government's efforts to rebuild interethnic trust
in a nation deeply divided by the June 2010 conflict.

CPJ's review shows that regional prosecutors fabricated criminal
charges against Khudaiberdiyev, Mirzakhodzhayev, and Askarov in retaliation for
their journalism. Authorities also refused to investigate reports that Askarov
was tortured in a regional pretrial facility.

Khudaiberdiyev, founder and owner of the regional television
channel Osh TV, and Mirzakhodzhayev,
owner of the independent broadcaster Mezon TV and the newspapers Itogi Nedeli and Portrfel, told CPJ they are being prosecuted for reporting on a May
2010 protest rally in the southern Jalal-Abad region. At the rally, videos of
which are available
online, an ethnic Uzbek leader and a governor of Jalal-Abad denounced
violence and the return to power of your predecessor, Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

Prosecutors charged both media owners with separate counts of
organizing and participating in mass disorder; calls for separatism; incitement
to interethnic and religious hatred; abuse of office; and illegal creation of
an armed group. Khudaiberdiyev and Mirzakhodzhayev, both of whom are in forced
exile, learned of the criminal case from reports in the regional press.

Khudaiberdiyev told CPJ in a detailed account that his
broadcaster was taken
off the air on the orders of Osh Mayor Melis Myrzakmatov. He said the mayor
summoned him to the office and forced him to sell Osh
TV to an ethnic Kyrgyz. In an interview with the Kyrgyz
service of the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
Myrzakmatov did not dispute the journalist's claims, saying the station had
aired provocative statements.Although
Khudaiberdiyev was allowed to continue working for the broadcaster, intimidation
by security services and continuing threats prompted him to flee Kyrgyzstan.

In a similar vein, the Osh
mayor
ordered the shutdown of Mezon TV; the station never resumed broadcasting.
Mirzakhodzhayev, facing threats to his life, soon fled the country, causing his
newspapers to cease publishing as well. In his interview with RFE/RL, Mayor
Myrzakmatov did not dispute the journalist's claims, accusing Mirzakhodzhayev
of being "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians."With the two directors' flight, Uzbek-language
broadcasts have virtually disappeared in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Senior members of your administration, Mira Karybayeva and
Erkinbek Mamyrov, told CPJ at a meeting in New York
last month that reporting on protest rallies is not a crime in Kyrgyzstan, and
that authorities have been investigating reports of detainee torture. Despite these
statements, Kyrgyz prosecutors have continued to press charges against the two
directors and have failed to actively pursue an investigation into the police
beating of Askarov at a Jalal-Abad pretrial detention facility.

CPJ
informed you of Askarov's case last September. He was arrested
for allegedly inciting ethnic violence--a charge that prosecutors later changed
to complicity in a police officer's killing and possession of ammunition--and imprisoned
him for life despite a lack of evidence and numerous procedural violations
during trial.

In a December interview with the independent regional news
website Fergana News (formerly Ferghana), Askarov described the details
of his arrest and beatings at the Jalal-Abad pretrial detention facility. He said
that police forced him to recant his report of the beatings when the Ministry
of Justice made preliminary inquiries last fall. Askarov also denied the criminal
charges against him, including complicity in a police officer's killing. In the
most recent interview from
prison with Fergana News, Askarov
said that he went to the scene of the officer's killing in his role as a
reporter after being alerted by neighbors. During his trial, Askarov said, the neighbors
wanted to testify on his behalf, but regional police and prosecutors threatened
them into silence.

Askarov also told Fergana
News that after the violence spread to his native village of Bazar-Korgon
he performed a reporter's duty: He interviewed the victims of the conflict and
photographed the bodies of killed civilians and burned houses. Before he was
arrested on June 15, 2010, Askarov relayed the information he had gathered to
Kyrgyz human rights activists and representatives of international
organizations in Bishkek, he said. Regional courts denied Askarov's appeal, and
his case is now pending in Kyrgyzstan's
Supreme Court.

Madame President, you have publicly declared your government's
commitment to press freedom and the rule of law. We call on you to stand by your
words. The ongoing repression of ethnic Uzbek media representatives must cease immediately.
We urge you to order the minister of justice to carry out an investigation into
abuse of authority by local prosecutors and, based on the findings, to ensure
the pending prosecutions are dropped and the conviction is vacated. By working
toward the resumption of Uzbek-language news broadcasts you will bridge the ethnic
divisions that cause tensions in Kyrgyzstan.